- Aug 1, 2024
- 170
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- Is negative SEO still an effective tactic against competitors?
Is negative SEO still an effective tactic against competitors?
- Thread starter LocalHunter
- Start date
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- Tags
- seo
fenrisdw
BANNED
- Jan 30, 2012
- 148
- 51
It used to be more effective, but nowadays Google’s algorithms filter most of it out.
- Mar 10, 2010
- 42,695
- 107,109
- Feb 28, 2019
- 7,445
- 7,907
Yes, it still works. But it's not as simple as sending a ton of spam links.
WhateverBoosts
BANNED
- Nov 25, 2022
- 1,554
- 195
Nope, 100% not
wwsosop
Regular Member
- Jul 7, 2024
- 474
- 186
I bet there are some sophicasted tactics but they seem to contradict each other.
1. No one wants to share the secret or those who know dont want to create a lane for people to use it on each other but......
2. If you dont know about the types of blackhat negative SEO out there then you dont even know your under attack except for the weird drop in rankings.
1. No one wants to share the secret or those who know dont want to create a lane for people to use it on each other but......
2. If you dont know about the types of blackhat negative SEO out there then you dont even know your under attack except for the weird drop in rankings.
Negative SEO isn’t very effective today. Google mostly ignores it. It’s better to focus on growing your own site’s authority.
- Oct 29, 2021
- 8,418
- 3,570
I think none should practise this. Instead invest that time and money to your own site. If you want to grow its not possible by doing harm to others.
Ethan Brooks
Newbie
- Sep 5, 2023
- 24
- 6
Negative SEO is less effective now, as Google typically ignores toxic links rather than penalizing sites. It’s better to monitor backlinks regularly, disavow harmful ones quickly, and focus on building authentic authority. Genuine SEO growth tends to outlast any competitor sabotage.
Second_Number
Newbie
- Jul 4, 2025
- 19
- 9
Yes, it might work to some extent, but Google is getting smarter with every update. Even if it has some effect now, future updates will likely just ignore low-quality links you try to point at competitors. Overall, I think it’s just a waste of time and money
Mendoza-davis
Regular Member
- Feb 2, 2021
- 201
- 80
Not really, negative SEO don’t work like before, search engines got smarter to catch it.
fenrisdw
BANNED
- Jan 30, 2012
- 148
- 51
Exactly negative SEO is mostly noise now, Google just discounts bad links instead of punishing sites. Better to invest that energy into your own growth.
- Dec 19, 2007
- 3,304
- 408
Negative SEO is much less effective today due to improved search engine algorithms and better monitoring tools, but it can still cause some harm if executed subtly.
- Jan 9, 2019
- 527
- 240
Highly effective for local businesses (primarily through review bombing), but probably less effective for other types of sites. As Google scraping gets "smarter", they'll understand more about the page/website, so junk links won't be as effective.
- May 8, 2012
- 4,218
- 3,728
sorry to say, but there are a lot of people posting here who don't seem to have an idea of negative SEO. they think its only possible with toxic links and that is completely wrong.
lots of other tactics exist for negative SEO to drop sites out of the SERPs and they are still highly effective. obviously i won't share details, as first of all its against the forum rules and 2nd, i wouldn't want that people go crazy with this... anyways it's best you just focus on normal SEO and outrank your competition instead of going down that road.
lots of other tactics exist for negative SEO to drop sites out of the SERPs and they are still highly effective. obviously i won't share details, as first of all its against the forum rules and 2nd, i wouldn't want that people go crazy with this... anyways it's best you just focus on normal SEO and outrank your competition instead of going down that road.
